Very underrated. A great bio of President Bush. The film mainly focuses on his life before politics and does a great job at it. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD: People I've talked to don't understand the ending. The way I interpreted it was that throughout Bush's whole life he's been searching for whatever it is he's looking for, and in the end he still hasn't found it. Hence the ball getting lost in the sky.
Brolin does a good Bush - he looks different, but nails the voice, faces, and general vibe. Dreyfuss and Wright's Cheney and Powell are excellent too, and several individual moments fascinate. But the big picture and overall narrative is messy; too jumbled and structureless for its own good.
A flawed but enjoyable film. The direction is a little uneven; at times it seems Stone intends a pensive character study, and then it will dip into satirical territory. There are moments of editorializing, and the inevitable scenes where it attempts to summarize 8 years in as many lines. Even so, it is well-filmed and well-acted. Josh Brolin is especially excellent as the title character, and it boasts excellent supporting roles (exception is the caricaturization of Condoleezza Rice).
The drama and the satire are equally weak. It had no effect on me when I saw it in 2008 and I doubt very much that my opinion would change if I saw it again today.
Limited in scope in terms of which part of Bush's life/presidency it covers. Not really sure the purpose of the film (as it was finished and released before his presidency ended and it didn't really cover his second term). The performances are all pretty good, and it's a pretty good film.
Interesting more than it is entertaining. It decides to portray the characters as humans who are driven by the best of intentions, even if their decisions are not what you'd agree with... oh, and who knows how much is true, but really, who cares?
I struggled to understand what this movie did to further the story of George W. Bush. Cheap laughs based on overused, unconfirmed stories are for SNL skits, not Oliver Stone films. (Brolin was great, though.)
There is very little bias - and while this was good on Stone's part for appealing to a wider audience - it sacrifices some entertainment value, making it not much more entertaining than a by-the-books documentary on W.'s life and term as President (which we ALL do not want to watch at this time in history).
This was a movie that caught me off guard as I thought that this was going to be one of those movies that had a spin to it and it really didn't feel like it. This movie makes W more of a tragic character. Well done job by the cast as not only should Brolin get an Academy Award nomination, but also Dreyfuss should as well for his portrayal of Cheney. I really liked how this turned out and not just a skewer piece as this really kept my interest through out most of the movie.
Loading Products from Amazon and Ebay
